Alumnus Roberto Martinez Makes ‘Bachelorette’ Finale

Having whittled down her pick from 25 men to two — including one UT
alumnus — Ali Fedotowsky will make her final choice tonight in the
season finale of the ABC reality show “The Bachelorette.”

Roberto
Martinez ’05, who majored in international business at UT and was a
right-handed pitcher for the baseball team, is a finalist in the show
that airs tonight, Aug. 2.

Monica Sheridan ’05, UT’s associate
director of admissions, sat next to Martinez at graduation. In fact, the
two were good friends, and she said they kept in touch after UT, though
she didn’t know he was on “The Bachelorette” until she saw the listing
of bachelors online at the start of the season. She’s seen college
friends interviewed about Martinez in US Weekly and other entertainment
media, which has been a little surreal.

“You don’t expect to see
one of your friends on ‘Extra,’” Sheridan said. Some of their mutual
friends wear Team Roberto T-shirts on Monday nights.

Sheridan
said the wholesome persona Martinez displays on the TV show is true to
life. He wasn’t a big drinker in college, and Ybor City wasn’t his
scene. She said he was kind of shy around the girls too, which is ironic
now that he is on national television in search of love.

“He
isn’t scandalous. He’s very much a clean-cut guy who is representing UT
well,” Sheridan said. “He doesn’t have a cocky attitude, and is
generally just a really great guy.”

Sheridan said Martinez, who
is an insurance agent in Charleston, SC, cut off communication during
the filming of the show, but as of Saturday, July 31, he had reactivated
his Facebook account with just one message: “It’s good to be back.”

Martinez, 26, has traveled around the world with Fedotowsky, from Iceland to Portugal to Tahiti. In one episode,
Martinez brought her to Tampa to meet his family and see his alma
mater. The two donned Spartan baseball jerseys and Martinez gave
Fedotowsky private batting lessons on the Sam Bailey Baseball Field.
They ended the date with a picnic on the baseball diamond, Martinez
nearly popping the champagne cork in Fedotowsky’s eye.

The two,
along with the other bachelor finalist, are concluding the season in
Tahiti, where Fedotowsky, 25, may give out the final rose and receive a
marriage proposal from one of the two guys.